A disturbing discovery has led to 22 criminal charges against an upstate New York man.

Animal Control Officers say more than 20 abandoned dogs were discovered at a property, nine of them already dead. Authorities say the 13 still alive were in varying states of emaciation, and they don't know when the animals were last fed.

No food or water were found at the property.

Police say the dogs were all French Mastiffs owned by a 55-year-old man who has been spoken to in the past about his dogs. The dogs were found inside a boarded up home and makeshift kennels.

"The house is really in deplorable conditions. The dogs have defecated throughout the house. There's dead dogs inside the house," New York State Police Captain Michael Tietz said.

The Dog Control Officer says she's spoken to the dogs' owner, 55-year-old Bentley Valdez, about his dogs in the past. She says he's been issued warnings, and she even met with him montly untol December.

"I see a man that has lost a little bit of touch with reality, what he can do for these animals and what he actually is doing," Dog Control Officer Karen Jaquay said.

Authorities say many of the dogs were purchased from breeders in places like Russia and Spain, so Valdez has spent a considerable amount of money and time to own teh dogs.

Valdez turned himself in the day after the dogs were found. He was arraigned on 22 counts of failure to provide sustenance to animals and released on bond. The surviving dogs are now in the care of the local humane society.